FILE - Actor Danny Masterson appears at the CMT Music Awards in Nashville, Tenn., on June 7, 2017. Jurors at the rape trial of the “That ’70s Show†star said Friday, Nov. 18, 2022, that they are deadlocked, but a judge told them they have not deliberated long enough for her to declare a mistrial. (Photo by Wade Payne/Invision/AP, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Two deliberating jurors at the rape trial of former “That ’70s Show” star Danny Masterson were dismissed Monday because they have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo replaced the jurors with two alternates and told the panel to start over with deliberations.
The jurors were returning Monday from a week off after telling Olmedo on Nov. 18 that they were deadlocked and could not reach a verdict on any of the three rape counts against Masterson after nearly three days of deliberations.
The judge told them it was too soon to declare a mistrial and to keep deliberating when they returned from the holiday break.
Masterson, 46, is charged with the rape of three women, including a former girlfriend, in his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003.
He has pleaded not guilty, and the defense said the acts were consensual.
